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Review: Mickey’s Halloween Party in Disneyland

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Heather Sievers, the multi-talented inventor of Time Out Spots AND our Disneyland correspondent and food expert (we’ll be announcing her on Thursday as our Disneyland Columnist!!!), reports on Mickey’s Halloween Party in Disneyland!

Atmosphere and Info

My family has attended Mickey’s Halloween Trick or Treat Party (as it used to be called) since it first started at Disney’s California Adventure in 2005. A few years back it was changed to “Mickey’s Halloween Party,” and this year it was moved to Disneyland.

The event is limited to a certain number of guests and costs $54 to attend the 5 hour extravaganza. If you are an annual passholder, you do get a discount on certain nights, but it really is not that significant of a deal. Unfortunately the price went up quite a bit since moving to Disneyland, and although the event is very fun, many people complained about what you “got for your money.” We went into it knowing we were spending a bunch of money and just let it go.

Dressing Up is Half the Fun

When we first arrived, I noticed that it was completely chaotic due to the fact that cast members were trying to get the day’s guests out of the park at the 7:00 pm start time. They accomplished this by giving the event attendees a purple wrist band as they came in, and then had us show our bands for about an hour while they cleared everyone else out.

Rides are open during the event, and there are additional special events set up all throughout the park. Unfortunately, most restaurants are closed for the evening; food is limited to walk up “fast food” type windows and…well…candy and treats! The French Market is transformed into “Club Skellington” a cool dance club hosted by Jack himself. There was also a special Buzz Lightyear dance party at the Tomorrowland Terrace as well as special character spots set up throughout the park. These make for some great photo opportunities, especially since many of the characters featured, like the famous villains, are not always out on “regular” park days.

The Sievers at Club Skellington

Another special treat: a fantastic fireworks show. I’ve been reading all over the place that many Disney-goers were upset because the special “Halloween Screams –- A Villainous Surprise in the Skies” fireworks show was only featured on the nights of Mickey’s Halloween Party. While it’s a bummer that not everyone visiting the park this October can enjoy the show, it did make for a great night at the party.

Party Details -- click for larger version

Eats

Now, for all you candy lovers, in addition to the special events around the park, there were seven different areas set up around Disneyland for trick or treating. I know seven doesn’t sound like much, but each of those seven areas included about five different stops — with each cast member handing you a handful of premium candy. Disneyland made the “trick or treating” part very guest friendly.

Our first stop was the Ghirardelli booth; they were an event sponsor. Last year there were several Ghirardelli candy spots, but this year there was just one. The location handed out a single “Luxe Milk with Almond” square. Yum yum yummy!

Comments

Actually, I found there were 2 Ghirardelli booths–one at the beginning of the New Orleans trail, and one at the beginning of the Tomorrowland area–it was difficult to make anything out however, because they kept everything pretty dark. The Tomorrowland one gave out milk chocolate with caramel squares. Thanks for the article!

Jeanine, I am jealous, we missed the second Ghirardelli booth, we did do the New Orleans Square area though. Maybe they didn’t give out too many. What’s funny is that a cast member told me there was only one this year. Oh well, we still got lots and lots of candy!

I was out in DL at the end of September and was just shy of the start of the Halloween Party (but at least I got to be there for Halloween Time!). I was extremely disappointed that I would not get to see Halloween Screams.

I saw a few weeks back the candy they were handing out at DL and was SO jealous! Not only is our party at WDW more expensive, but the majority of candy that is handed out are of the penny candy variety. Sure, we got a few “premium” bars here and there, but it was mostly stuff like slo-pokes, chick-o-sticks, and mary janes. The only healthy treat handed out were mini boxes of raisins. Perhaps they hand out less premium/chocolate stuff because it’s still very warm out here in Florida and the taffy-like candies hold up better. Whatever their reason, once we got home and sorted out and traded candies, we still had a decent haul!